I never went to College but I was fortunate to work myself up in a company and make a healthy sum of money now. I’ve been interested in subjects lately (Philosophy,Psychology,Sociology) that I’ve been wanting to learn to benefit myself in the work place and life but I don’t want to spend $40,000. I’m looking at the required classes that students take for certain classes and I’m thinking of studying them with books,forums,internet,seminars, whatever I can do. Do you think someone can really grasp an in-depth knowledge of something without the experience of a college education?
Yes, absolutely! I have many friends that self teach themselves, and I myself have found that learning on my own outside of class is more effective than sitting through lectures. All you need are proper resources and time!
I think you can read and consume a lot that way but the thing that you’ll be missing is the feedback from professors and peers. That give and take can be invaluable. They can help you figure out if you’re doing something wrong and can push you to think in new and creative ways.
With that said, many people are self-taught. If you enjoy something, dive in.
Yeah, that may be the problem. Maybe I could take a single class from time to time or join a club.
Absolutely! GMTspouse is passionate about Classical history and is ENTIRELY self taught in later life. Our home is overflowing w books, maps, artifacts. I get regularly dragged along to museum and archeological sites. Mercifully, the great sites in the world have great shopping & cafes. 
Yes, and you should go for it! I don’t have any personal experience, but I’ve heard great things about MIT Open Courseware- if look into that option if I were you!
Motivation is a particularly large issue in self-teaching. People learn all manner of things when they feel they need the information involved for some clear practical purpose (which can include satisfaction of a great curiosity). College serves as a kind of coach, pushing you to do something when the purpose is remote and you don’t readily see it.
If one’s motivation is to gain insight into life, one can look into what philosophers have said and explore those philosophic assertions that resonate and seem helpful. If one’s motivation is to gain knowledge that helps on the job, one would do well to look at the tenets of psychology, economics and sociology. The job-experienced person will cling to what resonates and fits personal observations. This kind of study is efficient, because you only learn what you can use. This is analogous to running for your health.
However, if one’s motivation is to match the attainments of conventionally educated people, then matching the syllabi of traditional courses in the subject areas is called for. In this case, I think it’s harder (but not impossible) to keep the point in mind when self-studying. Also, whether you’ve “qualified” (proved you’ve performed on a par with others in learning it) will be an issue. For this, I guess, one should get old actual college tests and self-administer them in circumstances (time) equal to how they were administered in the college course. This is analogous to running to prove you’re as fast as the average runner; you need to do it in a race or with time pieces of proven accuracy.
It is easier and cheaper to be self taught nowadays. Many schools post lecture series on Youtube or other sites. I am big history buff, and enjoyed going through Yale’s lectures, and paring them with history books or historic novels from the time period discussed.
https://www.youtube.com/user/YaleCourses/playlists
MIT also posts quite a bit of course content.
https://www.youtube.com/user/MIT
These can be supplemented by free classes on Coursera or paid courses the The Teaching Company:
The Great Courses are of a high quality, and you can pick up used copies on Ebay pretty inexpensively. They are great for cross-country drives. On a two week vacation on the west coast, we listened to the complete Foundations of Western Civilization lecture series, and the kids found they were much more prepared for Middle and High School history classes than their peers.
I would encourage you to go ahead, indeed if you pursue knowledge with passion you are better off than many full-time undergrads. The self-taught often develop highly unique points of view, beyond mainstream conventional wisdom.
In addition to online courses, you may want to seek out a tutor who will give you books, discuss them, and guide you in other ways. It might also help if you can form a study group of like-minded individuals. There are also interesting alternatives, like the Khan Academy or podcasts, which can serve as an introduction on specific topics.
Good luck. You have a great adventure ahead.
I had to teach myself effectively how to write a thesis. The English professor was always annoyed in the first semester whenever I would ask questions about how to write an effective thesis.
Does one “self teach myself” or simply “teach myself”?
Hm, yes. There are many credible and helpful online resources with which you can enhance your understanding of a particular subject. It all boils down to a person’s dedication/passion for the subject and the way in which he/she searches for relevant information. Some subjects may be harder than others but they are still completely learnable. Most of the time in college, you’re learning from a textbook, anyway. If you’re willing to put down some money, then you could simply save up for textbooks, and you’ll be able to learn to the same extent - more or less.
Speaking from my experiences, I taught myself some basic CS, so I could place out of intro classes. Because I have the opportunity to pursue it at uni, I don’t feel as much of a need to learn it all by myself. I’m not as self-driven and I need deadlines, if I even want to start on something.
Another subject is math. My mom forced me to do 7th grade math problems when I was in 4th-5th grade. Consequently, I’m more advanced in math than in other subjects. I would remember taking hard math classes and scoring fairly well on the math portion of standardized tests. If I continued to study math on my own, I could, again, see myself without a uni education.
It’s very possible. You have to apply all that knowledge in some way if you want to make something out of it in the workplace.Unfortunately, employers are too hesitant to hire people without education unless they have other means of knowing your expertise in the field.
I’ve taught myself a couple languages, including Python and LaTeX (typesetting language for documents). Pretty easy if you use the online tutorials/documentation, but still takes some time to learn well.